Rural Nurse Practitioner Behavioral Health Fellowship
Increasing Access to Behavioral Health Services
This Grow Your Own model is an innovative project to increase access to behavioral health services in rural Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. This program is possible thanks to funding provided by Johnson & Johnson.
Rural Nurse Practitioner Behavioral Health Fellowship
This highly successful program increases access to behavioral health services through a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Fellowship. The Center’s successful “Grow Your Own” model where Fellows already live in a rural and/or underserved community, return to school to become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, and serve their community after completing their education. This program is available in Colorado, New Mexico & Wyoming.
Fellows are eligible for support to complete their certification including:
- Financial stipend up to $15,000
- Flexibility to choose your school
- Monthly 1:1 academic and professional coaching
- Training related to telehealth, trauma-informed leadership, and integrated care models
Inquire about the Fellowship
The Center is excited to announce a new cohort is now open. If you are interested in this program and have questions please Contact Us ([email protected]).
2026 APRN Preceptor Training
Series
Effective precepting is essential to developing confident, competent PMHNPs. This three-part virtual training provides APRN preceptors with evidence-based teaching strategies, practical tools, and leadership skills to create engaging clinical learning experiences that promote learner growth and high-quality patient care.
Series-Level Learning Objectives
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Develop precepting strategies to promote learner engagement and clinical reasoning.
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Implement timely, actionable feedback that supports learner growth, confidence, and reflective practice.
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Recognize the APRN preceptor's role in fostering learner growth and professional development.
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Demonstrate strategies to prioritize patient care, workflow, and documentation using practical time management strategies.
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Explain practices to integrate clinical reasoning and decision-making into everyday practice.
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Apply practical teaching tools to strengthen learner organization and clinical reasoning.
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Develop a personalized approach to effective and sustainable precepting.
This training is three consecutive 1-hour training sessions held on October 6, 13, and 20, 2026. Participants will need to complete all three sessions to receive contact hours for the course.
Why this is Important
Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming have a shortage of professional behavioral health providers across all three states. Rural and underserved communities have the most problematic shortages. Family nurse practitioners, specifically, from earlier Center run programs have indicated that the majority of their patient populations have chronic illnesses exacerbated by unmanaged or undiagnosed behavioral health challenges and the communities in which they live do not have enough specialized behavioral health providers.
This fellowship will add up to 24 new behavioral health providers in communities where they are needed most.